This invention relates to arrangements for compensating alternating torques and vibrations in the drive train of a motor vehicle.
German Offenlegungsschrifft No. 37 20 559 discloses an arrangement for compensating alternating torques in a reciprocating piston internal combustion engine. In order to compensate alternating torques generated about the longitudinal axis of the crankshaft of the internal combustion engine by gas forces or reciprocating piston mass forces, that arrangement has a crankshaft connected on the drive side to planet carriers which support planet wheels having teeth which engage internal toothing of a planetary gear housing. The compensating mass for the alternating torques applied to the crankshaft is provided by the planet wheels which, because their carrier is driven by the crankshaft, rotate in a direction opposite direction to the rotation of the crankshaft, the ratio of the rotational motion of the planet carrier to the crankshaft rotation being constant. The necessary compensation for alternating torques in an internal combustion engine is thereby provided in an advantageous way and without requiring an additional balancing shaft.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,208 discloses a so-called dual-mass flywheel for the damping of vibrations in the drive train of a motor vehicle. This dual-mass flywheel is arranged in a conventional manner between the crankshaft of an internal combustion engine and a transmission. In this arrangement, a first flywheel mass of the dual-mass is fixedly connected to the crankshaft of the internal combustion engine, and a second flywheel mass is coupled to the input shaft of the transmission through a clutch which is preferably a friction clutch. A spring damping device, positioned between the two flywheel masses, connects the two flywheel masses to each other in such a way that relative angular motion between the two flywheel masses is possible.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,605 discloses a device for the compensation of alternating torques and vibrations in a vehicle drive train in which a dual-mass flywheel has a planetary transmission for rotating a third flywheel mass in the opposite direction.
Finally, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,550,280 and 4,584,513 disclose an electromechanical converter, known as a starter generator, in which a coilless rotor can be connected through a disconnecting clutch to the crankshaft of an internal combustion engine and also to the input shaft of a transmission. The rotor of the electromechanical converter is surrounded by one or more stators, the windings of which are connected through a voltage regulating device to the motor vehicle battery or to other electrical components of the motor vehicle. Depending on the respective operating situation, the electromechanical converter can be used as a stator for starting the internal combustion engine or as a generator for charging the vehicle battery or for supplying electricity to the electrical system of the vehicle.